Shary Boyle

Two weeks ago we flew out to Toronto to check out Art Toronto and the city’s gallery scene. Two totally different worlds. While the fair suffers from a lack of ambition, the gallery shows we saw presented a more balanced picture of the city as a whole. It’s not perfect, but at the very least we managed to take in some work by a few of the Venice Biennale’s better artists.

Last week we spent hundreds of hours looking at art at the Venice Biennale. We saw a lot of art. It’s a sprawling affair, that invites hundreds of countries to exhibit their nation’s best artwork.

We have a lot to talk about, so without any further ado, here’s part one of our Giardini slideshow with commentary. It features pavilions by Russia, Great Britain, Switzerland, Venezuela, Greece, Poland, Serbia, Japan, South Korea, Germany, the United States, and Canada. Look for part two later today.

Did anyone else spend four or more hours queuing in line to see Mike Nelson’s exhibition at the British Pavilion in 2011? Never. Again. Those making their game plan for the Venice Biennale today may want to get into the pavilions likely to have queue lines early. What are those pavilions? We have a list!

"Intercourses" still from Jesper Just's installation at Danish Pavilion. Image via: The New York Times

Canadian artist Shary Boyle had the National Gallery’s help this year in fundraising for her pavilion, which cost 1.5 Million. That’s pretty cheap—the United States would not even disclose how much was spent on their Pavilion in 2011—and that’s evidenced by their opening, which will host…a cash bar? Canadian culture does not yet understand the power of philanthropy. [The Globe and Mail]

After 20 years, Paul McCarthy’s goat finally got tired of being dry-humped. The sculpture’s motor died two weeks ago. [In The Air]

Andrew Russeth may see more art than Jerry Saltz. He’s recommending the ICP’s Triennial, therefore I will go see it. [Gallerist]

Artist Rirkrit Tiravanjia on Art Basel Hong Kong. “When bankers get together they talk about art,” he said. “When artists get together, they talk about money.” So, this is the state of the blue chip art world; removed from reality. [Bloomberg]

Andrew Goldstein interviews Jesper Just on his new multi-channel film installation at the Danish Pavilion. Just uses a replica city of Paris, located just outside the Chinese city of Hangzhou as his subject. We gave Just’s show at Nicolai Wallner a mixed review when we visited Copenhagen last year, so we’re looking forward to seeing what he does in Venice. Interestingly, the artist collaborated with the New York-based design firm Project Projects to produce an accompanying graphic campaign for “Intercourses” that will run online and as posters in the cities of New York, Hong Kong, Copenhagen, Paris and Shanghai [ArtSpace]